The Penguins might have to call up a third goalie, because I bet both Antti Niemi and Matt Murray suffered severe burns on the backs of their necks from that red light going on so many damn times.
The two-time defending Cup champs have allowed a yikes-inducing 15 goals in their first two games, including last night’s 10-1 demolishing by the Blackhawks. Here, watch all the goals:
Brandon Saad had a hat trick in his Blackhawk re-debut, Ryan Hartman had five points, and, Patrick Kane netted a goal and three assists in the blowout. “You could probably tell we were having a good time,” Hartman said. Kane noted “it was almost like it wasn’t a real game or something.”
This was indeed like something you’d see in an all-star game:
It’s early, but while it’s tempting to try to project, all I’ll say is it’s worth keeping an eye on that Hartman-Schmaltz-Kane line, and the loss of Artemi Panarin doesn’t have to be a crippling one.
In the other dressing room, the Penguins understand that this is close to meaningless in the grand scheme of a long season, but it still doesn’t feel good.
“It’s early, but it’s disturbing,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “When you lose a game like that it’s disturbing, I don’t care when it is in the season. And so, we’ve got to do some soul-searching and right now, we are simply not playing the game the right way.”
Sullivan’s going to make them think about what they’ve done:
No one will remember this in April. But I’m with Hartman: it was a really good time.